Lovell Chen

Melbourne-based architecture practice Lovell Chen is home to one of the most extensive archives of architectural, heritage and conservation knowledge in Australia. Even so, it would be wrong to characterize the firm’s work over the past four decades in these terms alone. Lovell Chen has been playing the long game, eschewing the limelight of design heroics in favour of rigorous research and design and collaborative processes. While many architects appear to espouse alternative practice models, Lovell Chen has actually realized one. Under the seemingly polite guise of heritage architecture, this firm has, over time, developed a compelling and radical practice model: the result of a complex interaction between ever-evolving expertise in design, masterplanning, heritage, conservation, construction and sustainability. It is a remarkable story.

The firm began as Allom Lovell